In the recent past, biomedical research has been repeatedly promoted on the grounds that it will lead to novel cures. Future remedies have been proposed and propagated by diverse actors such as scientists, the media and patient representatives. Proposals for novel therapies based on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have framed the initiation, reception, and implementation of novel research in multiple ways. The Foucauldian notion of a dispositif as well as the concept of the “therapeutic promise” serve to draw attention to the central role of medical proposals in the discourse on hESC research. In particular the quest for therapies has rendered the human embryo accessible first as an object of experimental manipulation, then of public debate, and finally as the subject of regulation. This therapeutic promise has enabled a reorientation of hESC research towards medical applications, has guided public debate and, in so doing, has itself been enrolled as a legal norm. This paper highlights the work done by the therapeutic promise in initiating an alliance between bioethics and science in an endeavour that both shaped and ensured the continuation of hESC research.